Hold Your Breath

Chapter 1

Hold Your Breath

Chapter 1

I looked down as I walked through the crowded hallway. It was always to awkward to meet anyone's eyes so I opted for the floor instead, my light brown hair falling in front of my eyes. I reached my third block class, and walked quickly to my seat. As soon as I sat at my desk, the bell rang for the beginning of class.

I looked around at my classmates chatting with their friends, sadly my friend, Emily, wasn't in this class with me. We have made it halfway through this semester, meaning that the fall fair on the pier was tonight, and everyone was talking about it. Everyone except me and Caleb anyways.

I glanced towards the seat where Caleb sat in the corner of the room. As always, he was staring at me. I turned toward the front, trying not to think about it. He did it everyday, but I'm still not used to it.

Caleb likes me...way to much. I guess you could say he's my stalker, but it's not like he follows my home everyday. He does, however, call my house at 5 o'clock daily. I've learned just to ignore it because it's literally at 5 on the dot. He never calls more than once either, if I don't pick up, he just leaves me a strange message and doesn't bother me again for the rest of the night.

I look at the clock in the classroom, and see it's 12 o'clock. A short five minutes later, my teacher finally let us go to lunch. I got up and started towards the cafeteria. I met Emily outside the doors and we walked in together to get food.

We both grabbed a simple lunch of a chicken sandwich and fries. I reached to grab an apple, like I normally do, and looked to see one hovering in front of me. I quickly noticed that a hand was holding it and attached to that hand was Caleb. He outstretched his hand toward me more, offering it.

I slowly took it from him, saying a polite thank you. His eyes met mine and I looked away rapidly. It wasn't that Caleb was bad looking, he wasn't. He had a nice build and pretty green eyes. He wore nice clothes despite his greasy, limp black hair.

He mumbled something I couldn't hear, so I nodded. I looked towards Emily, who was waiting for me.

"Bye, Caleb," I mumbled, and walked to Emily.

She looked at me hard and I sighed.

"Someone has to be nice to him and he gave me an apple," I murmured.

"Well, next time say thank you and walk away. I don't know why you haven't told your mom how much he creeps you out..."

"I have. She just thinks he's some nice boy who wants to be my friend. Can we talk about something else please?"

Now it was Emily's turn to sigh as we reached our table.

"Fine. Are you excited about the fair later?"

I nodded and took a bite of my apple.

"Can't wait," I said after swallowing.

I looked up to see Nathan, my crush, coming out of the lunch line. He walked over to our table and sat down next to me.

"Hey, Anna. Hi, Emily," Nathan said.

Is that my heart I hear pounding out of my chest? Oh, why yes it is!

"Hello," I said so quietly it was almost a whisper.

"So are you guys going to the fair tonight?" Nathan asked us as he ripped out his bag of chips.

"Yeah... You?" Emily responded.

"Yep."

"We should meet up!" I said as enthusiastically as I dared.

Since when do I make the first move, I thought.

"That sounds cool," Nathan said and smiled at me.

I smiled back, and finished my lunch.

"See you guys tonight!" I said as I stood up from the table.

Nathan gave me a slight wave, as did Emily. I was very excited for this fair. I asked Nathan to meet up, and he said yes. I don't know how this day could get any better.

***

I unlocked the door to my house and stepped inside. My house wasn't that big, but it was enough for just me and my mom. My mom didn't get off work until 4, so I threw off my backpack, grabbed my laptop, and sat down on the couch. I had watched half an episode of Sherlock when my mom got home.

"Hey, Mom! How was work?" I asked. I loved hearing about my mom's work. She was a middle school English teacher, and my mom had a story everyday about the kids she taught.

"Well today, Haley thought it would be funny to spray ketchup on Lindsay at lunch and tell everyone Lindsay had started her period. Did I mention Lindsay was wearing white capris?" My mom sighed. She loved her job, but her kids this year were crazier than usual.

"I'm gonna go get ready for the fair tonight. I'm meeting Emily at 4:30 so I'll just get dinner there."

My mom nodded, and I went down the hall to my bedroom. I opened my closet door and scanned my clothes. I ended up choosing jean capris and a light pink tank top with white sandals. I put my hair in a side braid, and put some eyeliner on and reapplied my mascara before deciding I was ready. I grabbed my purse and headed into the living room.

I gave my mom a kiss on the head before leaving for the short walk to the pier.